An elephant never forgets \u2013 where the snacks are stored. <\/p>\n
A large wild elephant caught shopkeepers off guard at a convenience store in Thailand on Monday, when it lumbered into the shop in search of food. <\/p>\n
The hungry mammal can be seen on CCTV footage entering the store and helping itself to snacks. <\/p>\n
\u201cI told it, \u2018Go away, go on,\u2019 but it didn\u2019t listen. It was like it came on purpose.\u201d <\/p>\n
The store, in Thailand\u2019s Nakhon Ratchasima province, northeast of the capital Bangkok, is near the Khao Yai National Park, so elephants are often nearby. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe usually see it pass by, and watch from inside the house. But it never came into the shop before or hurt anyone,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
The elephant \u2013 a 27-year-old male called Plai Biang Lek \u2013 is well known in the area. <\/p>\n
Khamploi said it stayed in the store for about 10 minutes, picking and eating. While wild elephants usually prefer bananas, bamboo and grasses, Biang Lek went straight for the sweets. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt walked up to the counter \u2013 the candy counter near the freezer. It used its trunk to gently push the freezer out of the way so it could fit inside,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt went straight to the snacks, picked through them with its trunk. It ate about 10 bags of sweets \u2013 they\u2019re 35 baht ($1) each. It also ate dried bananas and peanut snacks.\u201d <\/p>\n
Another elephant remained outside the store, \u201cprobably waiting,\u201d Khamploi said. <\/p>\n
Park rangers were called and were eventually able to guide the elephant away, after much coaxing and shooing. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s around here often but never hurts anyone. I think he just wanted snacks,\u201d said Khamploi. <\/p>\n
Following the unexpected visit, a wildlife protection group stopped by and offered Khamploi 800 baht for the stolen goods. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey said they were \u2018sponsoring the elephant\u2019s snack bill\u2019 \u2013 it was kind of funny,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Elephants, Thailand\u2019s national animal, have seen their wild population decline in recent decades due to threats from tourism, logging, poaching and human encroachment on their habitats. <\/p>\n
Experts estimate the wild elephant population in Thailand has dwindled to 3,000-4,000, from more than 100,000 at the beginning of the 20th century. <\/p>\n
A group of local volunteers in Khao Yai are working to keep the park\u2019s elephants away from residential areas. <\/p>\n
The elephant Biang Lek had \u201craided\u201d several other places before Monday\u2019s incident, Thanongsak said, even injuring the tip of its trunk after breaking a glass cupboard in a local home. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe is now living in a village, which is unusual for a wild elephant. It is like they don\u2019t want to return to the mountain. It is easier for them to just stay among the houses,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Human and elephant encounters are common and can turn violent, Thanongsak said. There have been instances of elephants destroying cars. <\/p>\n
Khao Yai National Park is home to an estimated 140-200 wild Asian elephants, and Thanongsak said his group is trying to keep the area safe for both elephants and humans. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An elephant never forgets \u2013 where the snacks are stored. A large wild elephant caught shopkeepers off guard at a convenience store in Thailand on Monday, when it lumbered into the shop in search of food. The hungry mammal can be seen on CCTV footage entering the store and helping itself to snacks. \u201cI told <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16988,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16987","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}